Visiting CW Battlefields

Thoughts on visiting CW battlefields. My first trip to a CW battlefield was in 1967. I was 10 years old and visited Shiloh NMP in Tennessee. I remember the trip well. We visited my mom's side of the family in Corinth, Mississippi. I remember that the battlefield with all the cannons and monuments was impressive. I remember the line of cannons at the Hornet's nest. I remember seeing the mass grave sites on the field where many Confederates were buried together. My parents took some pictures so the trip is documented; I have some of the photos. I can remember a somber atmosphere there. I saw "lights" I think. Mystical. I felt either the bad karma of the place or I had indigestion. Who knows. All I know was that I loved the history of the place. I had good history teachers in school. I loved watching shows about WWII growing up. Not the gore, just the human aspect of history. I majored in history in college. Terri and I traveled to Corinth in 1987 to visit family and the battlefield on a trip we took to Charleston, SC. In that 20 years my love of history bloomed into a full time passion. In the 20 years since then, I've visited many more CW sites...and still see "lights" every time.